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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

Tyson Foods Inc. said Monday that its profit fell 21 percent for its third fiscal quarter on higher grain costs and lagging results from its chicken business.
An oversupply in the poultry industry has kept prices depressed. Poultry demand has remained stubbornly low as cash-strapped families cut back on restaurant dining and prepared meals that once underpinned chicken sales.

MELVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Arrow Electronics announced a $2,857-per-share bid for Japanese electronic components supplier Chip One Stop on Monday.
Arrow declined to disclose the total value of the deal.
Chip One Stop is based in Yokohama, Japan. Arrow said its sales for the latest fiscal year were about $47 million.

TOKYO, Aug. 8 (Kyodo) — Bridgestone Corp. said Monday its group net profit in the January-June period increased 21.6 percent from a year earlier to 54.12 billion yen on brisk sales of tires, its mainline product, both in Japan and overseas.
The tiremaker's consolidated operating profit in the first half of the business year rose 19.

SEATTLE, Aug. 5 (Kyodo) — Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it will start mass-producing an electric version of the RAV4 sport-utility vehicle, which it is now jointly developing with U.S. EV venture Tesla Motors Inc., at its plant in Ontario, Canada, in 2012.
Toyota currently manufactures gasoline-powered RAV4s at the Ontario plant, and will produce its EV version using motors and batteries made by Tesla at its California factory, the Japanese automaker said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Oversight committee has subpoenaed documents from the National Labor Relations Board's lawsuit against Boeing Co., increasing the political pressure over a case that has the GOP fuming.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California, a leading critic of the dispute, claims the lawsuit interferes with the company's ability to decide where to do its work.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anger at the nation's leaders for taking so long to strike a debt-ceiling deal has turned into high anxiety over jobs and the economy amid growing fears of a new recession.
The news that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating a notch for the first time ever only added to the tension.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Solar cell maker SunPower Corp. said Friday it plans to own and operate a panel-manufacturing plants in Mexicali, Mexico to serve the North American market.
The company said it will lease an existing building with up to 320,000 square feet.
SunPower said it will use the plant to make several models of solar panels for homes, commercial buildings and power plants.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The United Steelworkers have ratified a four-year contract with Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Technology Inc. covering 3,000 workers at Allegheny Ludlum plants in western Pennsylvania and an ATI plant in Albany, Ore.
The union and Pittsburgh-based ATI announced the tentative deal June 30, the day the last contract expired.

DETROIT (AP) — Safety investigators are looking into possible transmission problems in some 2011 and 2012 Ford Mustang models and fuel lines in 2011 Volkswagen Jettas.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects says on its website Sunday that it has received 32 complaints about an unexpected inability to shift into gear on Mustangs with manual transmissions.

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp., which has sunk to No. 3 in global vehicle sales from pole position, is counting on emerging markets to drive a revival in its fortunes, one of its top India executives says.
Toyota sold 3.7 million vehicles around the world in the first half of 2011, down 11 percent from a year earlier as sales crashed 62 percent in April-June on production disruptions caused by the March earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Congress gets back to work after Labor Day it will have the chance to achieve something that has largely eluded it for the entire year, passing legislation that might actually create jobs.
With the battering debate over the debt ceiling over, the stage is set for Congress to approve and President Barack Obama to sign three big free-trade agreements and the most significant overhaul of the patent system in 60 years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Honda is recalling about 1.5 million vehicles in the U.S. to update the software on the automatic transmission to decrease the possibility of transmission damage.
The recall affects certain 2005-2010 4-cylinder Accord, 2007-2010 CR-V and 2005-2008 Element vehicles.

NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) — Vt. Gov. Peter Shumlin and U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy are going to announce a plan by a South Korean biotechnology company to build a facility in Newport that will eventually employ about 200 people.
The announcement is planned for Friday in Newport.
The project is being put together by Jay Peak ski area president Bill Stenger who is partnering with South Korean company AnC Bio to build a $50 million plant that will be called AnC Bio Vermont.

WARSAW, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana company that makes hip replacements and other artificial joint products is planning to spend $27 million on manufacturing and research equipment.
Warsaw-based DePuy (duh-PEW') Orthopaedics expects to spend $20 million on manufacturing equipment and $7 million on research and development equipment and have it installed before 2014.

Boeing painted the numbers "7-4-7" in the skies from Minnesota to California on the final test flight for its new jumbo jet.
A map on the flight-tracking service FlightAware shows that the plane left the airport in Everett, Washington, and flew over Montana, south to California, and back north working its way across North Dakota and Minnesota, with trips as far south as New Mexico and Oklahoma, to spell out "747.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Lane County's fragile recreational-vehicle manufacturing industry could find hope in an unexpected place — green technology.
The Eugene Register-Guard reports RV manufacturer Country Coach has plans to develop a diesel-electric hybrid, but that plan will have to wait as the local luxury motor coach industry tries to survive.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The operator of a Springdale, Ark. turkey plant responsible for a massive ground turkey recall was searching for answers Thursday to what caused a salmonella outbreak that's been linked to one death and at least 77 illnesses.
Officials at the meat giant Cargill were trying to determine how a strain of salmonella got into ground turkey shipped from northwest Arkansas, said company spokesman Mark Klein.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama proposed tax credits for businesses and other initiatives on Friday to help some of America's 1 million military veterans find work. He also vowed to press Congress to get busy on legislation to provide more near-term jobs in general when lawmakers return from their recess in September.

SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Morton Salt Co. has asked South Hutchinson city authorities for a 10-year tax abatement as it plans to upgrade its salt evaporation plant.
In its application, the company says it wants to invest $7 million in the renovations to modernize the century-old plant, according to The Hutchinson News.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina maker of industrial cranes says it's closing a manufacturing plant by the end of the year, putting about 90 people out of work.
WWAY reported Thursday that Terex Cranes will shut down production in Wilmington, where it assembles and fabricates tower cranes.